Ghostface Killah, "In Tha Park"

So you know I had to run right out to the record store click “buy” at iTunes and get the new Ghostface Killah album this morning. (The basketball-sized “W” tattoo I have on my back starts to itch if I wait too long after any new product hits the streets.) I’ve been listening to it since, and it sounds pretty great. Jumping out at me first is track 7, “In Tha Park,” which was produced by Frank Dukes and features the Roots’ Black Thought and a totally awesome guitar sample — all cranked-up and fuzzed-out, you could almost hear it fitting on a Sleigh Bells record or something. Looking at the liner notes in the record sleeve my handy digital booklet (sigh), I see that it’s a sample of Johhny Thunder’s “I’m Alive.” Which blows my mind for a minute because I think it’s this song.

But it’s not. It’s this one:

Which makes more sense.

And I kind of wish that this is the person the Kinks’ classic was written about.

But I think its not.

I’m not sure, but think the Kinks song has more to do with this Johnny Thunder.

The intro to the Ghostface song references Fatback, the funk band who many people credit with releasing the first rap single ever.

And “In tha Park” cribs its titular phrase from MC Shan’s “The Bridge.”